Clinical and Experimental Studies on Cardiomyopathy

Abstract

CARDIOMYOPATHY, a heart-muscle disorder of unknown cause, can be classified as hypertrophic or congestive on the basis of the functional abnormalities.1 According to Goodwin and Oakley, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is characterized by diastolic failure of the left ventricle due to a loss of its normal distensibility, with slow ventricular filling, rigidity of the hypertrophied chamber and increased left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, the height of which marks the severity and extensiveness of myocardial involvement; systolic function is normal.1 Congestive cardiomyopathy, on the other hand, is characterized by poor systolic function with decreased left ventricular ejectile force, low cardiac output, congestive heart failure, . . .